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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the significance of the Terek River?

2. How does Tolstoy describe Marya and Sergey's feelings for each other?

3. How does marriage make Eugene Irtenev's life easier?

4. What is in Novomlinsk?

5. Where does Marya yearn for through the winter?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Tolstoy describe Eugene Irtenev's marriage with Liza Annenskaya?

2. What causes Marya's depression?

3. What causes Sergey and Marya's relationship to blossom?

4. Which ending of "The Devil" seems to be preferable?

5. What is Eugene Irtenev's relationship with Stepanida?

6. What role do Liza Annenskaya's pregnancies play in "The Devil"?

7. Who are the Grebensk Cossacks?

8. What is the relationship between the Grebensk Cossacks and the Muslim Tartars?

9. What kinds of problems does Ivan Ilych have with Praskovya Federovna, his wife?

10. How does Ivan Ilych change when he begins to make money?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write a character sketch of Tolstoy himself, based on his writing. What kinds of information do his themes provide for you?

Essay Topic 2

Analyze three stories and describe Tolstoy's views on illness. How does illness function in a narrative sense, in the stories? How does it function in a philosophical sense, as a counterweight to spiritual truths?

Essay Topic 3

How does Tolstoy see marriage? Analyze marriages in three stories, and describe the uses, benefits and disadvantages of marriage in Tolstoy's writing.

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